


Pike's Letter

by Terygon



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Constructive Criticism Welcome, F/F, My First AO3 Post
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-04
Updated: 2017-02-04
Packaged: 2018-09-21 21:40:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9567956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Terygon/pseuds/Terygon
Summary: Pike is writing a letter. Vex wants to go shopping.





	

Pike tapped the plume of her quill against her nose. The gnome had been at her desk since she'd finished her ritual duties just after dawn, with only two words still intact amid the scratch-outs. There were probably any of a dozen things she should be doing, blessing crops, healing minor injuries from farming or martial training, helping to rebuild the local temple to Pelor but, since she was fairly sure if she didn't finish this letter now it wouldn't get finished, Pike struggled on.  
The knock on her door was a welcome distraction. “Yes? Come in.”  
“Pike, we missed you at breakfast.” Vex'ahlia, friend and teammate, stuck her head through the doorway. “Keyleth and I want to have a girls' day, so put on your pretties, darling, and let's go.”  
“Yeah, well, that sounds great. I... have to finish this though, so you two go have extra fun for me.” Wanting to grab the distraction with both hands, Pike forced herself to turn it down.  
“Oh, no, no, no, that will not do.” Vex rejected the idea out of hand as she strode through the door and over to Pike's desk. “You've been doing your own thing for far too long. We hardly get to see you anymore, much less have just the three of us out and about. Whatever that is cannot be more important than us.”  
“Not more important, but-”  
“Then it's settled. We'll just get rid of this and-” Vex leaned over to take the page, barely giving Pike time enough to snatch it away.  
“No, no, stop. It's not more important, just...” Pike sighed as she looked for the right words. “Just maybe more urgent? Or something.”  
The half-elf cocked her eyebrow into a look Pike thought probably resembled the one she herself gave their goliath companion Grog when he was having one of his 'brilliant' ideas.  
“Pike.”  
And there was her name, said in her own 'get real, Grog' tone.  
“No, really, I need to finish this. It's... it's just...” Vex' gaze still held hers. “Really, it's... OK, look, before you all left for the Feywild, Keyleth told me that if I had... feelings for someone, I should tell them.” Pike's admission triggered a surprised blink from her half-elven friend that broke their locked gaze. “After what happened to you in the Feywild, and especially when you all found Tiberius, well, I got to thinking how awful it would be if this person died, or I did, before I got up the guts to tell them. Well, I've been trying to talk to this person, but I can't seem to say anything important. So I thought maybe a letter...”  
“It's one of us.”  
“What?”  
“It's one of us.” Vex' certain tone froze any response of Pike's. “You're in love with one of us in Vox Machina.”  
The surety shifted into impishness. “Now, who could it be? It's not Scanlan, obviously, and you don't look at Grog that way. Not to mention the mechanics of that whole thing.”  
As Vex had muttered the last phrase it took a minute for Pike to process it, but once she had she felt her face burst into a flaming blush.  
“I am not in love with Grog!”  
“Of course not, my dear. Didn't I just say that? Now, since you were discussing this with Keyleth, it isn't my brother. It isn't my brother, is it?” Her narrowed glare gave her opinion of this option. “I may need to vomit if it is, and it was such a lovely omelette.”  
“Your breakfast is safe. Vex, I need-”  
“So that leaves Percy.”  
“Umm, well, you know I'd never do anything that might mess up your relationship, but I-”  
“My relationship?”  
“Yes, with Percy, and I'm not-”  
“I don't have a relationship with Percy. We're friends, that's all.”  
“Of course you have... He gave you a title.”  
“Darling, he gave that to me... for entirely different reasons. Besides, if we felt that way about each other he wouldn't have needed to give me anything. We could have just gotten married and I'd be... the female equivalent of whatever his title is.”  
It took another moment of processing. “OK, that's a point, but anyway-”  
“In any event, I don't think I'm ready for a relationship right now.” Vex stared at the window and played with the tip of her dark braid.  
“OK, so that makes things... What?”  
The braid tip brushed Vex' delicate elven nose. “Oh, don't you agree that there are times one should concentrate on oneself?”  
“Of course, but-” Pike's eyes narrowed. “This doesn't have anything to do with that tree guy you all were telling me about, does it?”  
Vex shrugged.  
“C'mon, Vex, you have to know he was just trying to get in your head.”  
“He was and he did.” Vex' smile was tired around the edges. “I just think I should get him out before I let someone else in, don't you?”  
Pike touched her friend's hand. “Sounds like a good idea. So how about you give me fifteen minutes to get changed, and I'll meet you downstairs.”  
“What about the letter? I agree with Keyleth, you know. You should tell him.”  
“You're both right and I will, but I've written two words since I sat down here just after daybreak and more don't seem to be coming. Maybe a day out is what I need, too.”  
“You're a good friend, Pike. Wear the orchid blouse. It makes your eyes look a deeper blue.”  
“I'll see if I can find it. Now scoot.” Pike made shooing motions. “Downstairs in fifteen.”  
“Downstairs in fifteen.” Vex hugged the gnome's sturdy shoulders and left the room.  
Pike took a last look at the two words on the sheet in front of her...  
“Dear Vex,”  
… balled up the paper, and tossed it in the waste can.

**Author's Note:**

> OK, I understand that “Pike likes Percy” is about as canon as it can get without Pike hauling him down for a big wet one, but something from the rakshasa/assassin episode put Pike/Vex in my brain and I had to write this to get it out. The issue: Pike is running around naked through most of the episode without a qualm, but when Vex leaps out of the shower to say goodbye, she's all stuttery and flustered. Add to that Laura is the only one (besides Ashley, of course) who knows for sure who Pike is interested in, and I got to thinking...
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy.


End file.
